All eyes on Sydney for gay marriage, gender rights and LGBTI equality

SYDNEY: Three important events for the queer, and sex and gender diverse (SGD) communities, will be held in Sydney this weekend, with each event to feature plenty of discussion on marriage rights at a time when PM Julia Gillard and her Labor colleagues will be debating similar issues at their National Conference in Darling Harbour. 

In what is expected to be Australia’s largest ever public rally in support of marriage equality, thousands will march from Hyde Park to the Sydney Convention Centre on Saturday, December 3 to send a message to Labor members at the National Conference to back changes to the Marriage Act.

Cat Rose, convener for Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH), one of the organisers of the rally, told SX it was of utmost importance that peoples voices were heard, particularly in light of Gillard’s push for a conscience vote on marriage equality.

“This just makes it so important to come out and say that we won't accept any half measures, and that we demand nothing less than full marriage equality,” Rose said.

“The fact that we now have so many Labor figures on our side shows us that our campaign is getting somewhere. Now is the time to ramp it up!”

A day before, on December 2, the inaugural Australasian Sex and/or Gender Diverse Human Rights & Dignity Conference will be held at Redfern Community Centre in Sydney.

Topics such as document changes, legal rights, federal anti-discrimination laws, Medicare rights, anti-poverty issues and disability rights will be discussed, with speakers including activist Norrie mAy-welby, SGD human rights campaigner Tracie O’Keefe, transgender activist Katherine Cummings and journalist Katrina Fox.

mAy-welby is currently involved in a legal dispute with authorities after earlier receiving a ‘sex not specified’ marking on their birth certificate.

mAy-welby told SX that many SGD people continue to face discrimination, despite some improvements in the their legal rights such as changes this year to passports allowing a person’s sex to be marked with ‘X’ if there is a reference from a doctor stating sex is indeterminate.

“I hope this conference will bring together more energy and connections and shared experience to help us as sex and gender diverse people to be free from unfair discrimination and persecution, and to live better, healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives,” mAy-welby said.

The conference comes as a new battle looms over transgender identity rights, after a transgender woman lodged a sex discrimination complaint this week against the Australian Government to the United Nations on grounds that NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages was discriminating against her by forcing her to divorce her wife before any changes to her birth certificate’s gender markings could be made.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, December 4, the national, grassroots ‘1LOVE: Equality, Marriage, Freedom Conference’ will take place at Sydney University, featuring the likes of Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, Wear it Purple co-founder Scott Williams, and Sally Goldner, from Transgender Victoria.

Teachers, students as well as ministers of religion will also be attending the event which will provide an opportunity to discuss the direction of the marriage equality campaign as well as workshops on issues important to the community beyond marriage equality.

For more information about Australasian Sex and/or Gender Diverse Human Rights & Dignity Conference, visit www.sageaustralia.org